September 29, 2026

#204 The Power of Emotional Intelligence in Hospitality with Daniella Morganelli ​​​

A guest at one of Daniella Morganelli’s rentals couldn’t get the gas grill working and mentioned they had charcoal, so Daniella ordered a charcoal grill from Walmart that arrived within two hours. Daniella, a school counselor and the host behind the Crimson Cocoa Chalet, didn’t see a demanding guest. She saw someone who needed something, and that instinct is emotional intelligence in hospitality at its simplest.

What if becoming a better host has less to do with knowing every strategy, and more to do with understanding people?

That’s the question at the center of this episode of The STR Sisterhood Podcast. Daniella has been an Airbnb host since 2018. So much of her professional life has centered on people: their emotions, their conflicts, and learning to meet them where they are.

And those skills translate beautifully into hosting.

From “Counseling the Adults” to Hosting Since 2018

Before she worked with kindergarten and second graders, Daniella spent almost a decade managing community associations. She jokes that property management is school counseling, “except just counseling the adults.”

In 2018, she bought Vacay Vibes. In 2020, she turned her basement in Burlington, Massachusetts, into Stay Awhile Rental, a midterm rental. In 2022, she added the unit next door. Last spring, she sold both condos to buy the Crimson Cocoa Chalet.

She’s also hosted over 180 families in her backyard pool through Swimply. She rents baby gear through BabyQuip and works as a travel agent on the side.

The Swimply story is pure operator reality. Bookings are last-minute and weather-dependent. Towels became “a chaos mess,” so she now charges $5 for five. And after a season of leaving swimmers to it, she now stays home to keep the noise and chaos down.

That isn’t a lack of hospitality. It’s a boundary built from experience.

What Emotional Intelligence in Hospitality Really Means

Daniella defines emotional intelligence as “being aware of others’ feelings and being aware of your own feelings, your own beliefs, your own comfort areas.”

The person on the other side of a situation may experience it very differently than you do. For hosts, it shows up in small moments first.

Meeting Guests Where They Are

Daniella doesn’t put top sheets on her own bed. Some guests would give her four stars if she forgot one.

Neither of them is wrong. “Everybody’s different,” she says, and “there’s no right or wrong to it.”

She also reminds us that guests aren’t always showing up relaxed. You’d think traveling families are stress-free, she says, “but when they’re traveling they’re very stressed out.” Partners argue. Kids melt down. And sometimes that stress comes out as a complaint about something that isn’t the real issue at all.

Put Yourself in Their Shoes Before You React

When I asked how someone could build deeper self-awareness, Daniella’s first step was simple. Before reacting to a conflict, try to understand where the other person is coming from.

Then turn the lens around. Why am I feeling this way? What bias am I holding onto?

Most hosts skip that second question. It’s usually where the real answer lives.

Emotional Intelligence in Hospitality: Working Through It With Guests, Not For Them

Daniella is training her school district in collaborative problem solving, an approach developed by Think:Kids at Massachusetts General Hospital. The idea is to work through a problem with someone, instead of handing down the answer from a position of authority.

She sees a lot of adults default to “I’m right. You’re wrong. I know more.” Nobody learns anything. Nothing gets resolved.

Hosts fall into the same trap. A guest complains, and the first instinct is to defend the listing, the house rules, or the way the kitchen is set up.

Here’s what that reveals. When every guest issue turns into a debate about who’s right, you’re usually protecting your preferences instead of your guest experience.

Accommodate Guests Within Reason

“We’re providing accommodations,” Daniella says. “We need to be accommodating to our guests.” Within reason, of course.

That’s the charcoal grill. It’s also the information she builds into the Crimson Cocoa Chalet and Stay Awhile Rental so guests can find answers without messaging her. (She did scale back the signs after a cleaner complained.)

She’s also direct about hosts who watch guests on camera and nitpick in Airbnb Facebook groups. Your rules are in place. After that, give guests their privacy and let them enjoy the space they paid for. Jodie Odlin made a similar case in our conversation on what actually makes a great host.

Why Emotional Intelligence in Hospitality Needs Boundaries

Daniella is honest that the same instinct has a cost. “If I sniff a problem coming my way, I’m like all over it,” she says. Sometimes she’s so accommodating that it ends up walking all over her.

This is where great hospitality and good business have to meet. Accommodating guests within reason means you’ve decided in advance where “reason” ends. The towel fee and being home during pool bookings are exactly that: standards set once, so she isn’t renegotiating them every time someone pushes.

If you’re saying yes out of anxiety instead of from a standard, that isn’t a guest problem. It’s a decision you haven’t made yet.

Self-Awareness Makes You a Stronger Host and Business Owner

The best advice Daniella has ever received? Wait for people to get their thoughts out. So many of us listen to respond, she says, instead of listening to hear.

She uses a two-minute exercise. One person talks. The other can’t respond or make facial expressions, then summarizes what they heard. That one landed for me, because I’ve learned I make facial expressions without even knowing it.

Emotional intelligence in hospitality starts with that kind of awareness, including knowing when you’re running on empty. Years ago, a supervisor told Daniella she needed more self-care. She was working full-time, finishing her master’s, and raising a two-year-old. Now she treats herself every July to a stay at her own chalet in the White Mountains, with the whole family along.

If you’re building a portfolio around a demanding career too, this episode on balancing both is a good next listen.

Entrepreneurship also built her confidence. The teenager who drove herself to college tours alone now takes calculated, researched risks. “I trust myself now,” she says.

The Better Question for Your Next Guest Conversation

Travel is stressful. Guests arrive with different expectations, preferences, and ways of communicating. That doesn’t mean you have to say yes to everything.

But it does mean there’s tremendous value in slowing down long enough to understand what’s really happening before you respond. That’s the heart of emotional intelligence in hospitality.

So the next time a guest message makes your stomach drop, pause. What does this guest actually need? And what are you bringing into the conversation?

Sometimes the better question isn’t, “Who’s right?”

It’s, “How can we work through this?”

Listen to the full episode with Daniella. Then bring your next tricky guest situation into the STR Sisterhood, where women running these businesses talk through exactly these moments together.

Click here now to listen to the full podcast.

HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY POINTS:

Golden Nuggets:

• “Understanding your own self helps you understand other people too.”
• “I’m glad that I have taken all the risks that I have because it’s helped build my confidence and my self esteem.”
• “My light, my confidence, my ability to have a positive outlook can shine through that plexiglass, but the negativity never penetrates me.”
• “You can have a beautifully designed space when it’s not operated well, it is not going to go so well. But design plus the operations, I really feel are super important.”

Connect With Our Guest:

Instagram :  https://www.instagram.com/crimsoncocoachalet/    https://www.instagram.com/dmtravelvibes Facebook :  https://www.facebook.com/VacaVibesinD5/    https://www.facebook.com/DMTravelVibes/    https://www.facebook.com/morganellibabe/

Full Episode Transcript:

All right, here we go. So today we are joined by Daniella Morganelli, and we are going to have a fun conversation about not only your journey, but also why emotional intelligence is your secret weapon. So Daniella, thank you so much for being here.

Thanks for having me.

First of all, I’d love for you to share with our audience a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Okay, so my full-time gig is actually a school counselor. I work with kindergarten and second graders, but I have been an Airbnb host since two thousand eighteen. Before I entered the elementary school, I used to be a property manager, so I was managing community associations for almost a decade, which I also like to say is kind of very similar to school counseling. Except just counseling the adults. And so in two thousand eighteen, we bought our first property, which was Vacay Vibes in D5. And then in two thousand twenty, we refurnished our basement apartment in Burlington, Massachusetts, and created Stay Awhile Rental. It’s a midterm rental. In twenty twenty two, we bought the unit next door to Vacay Vibes in D5 and created Even More in D4. And then last spring, I sadly sold both of my condos to do something bigger and better. And we sold both of those condos to buy the Crimson Cocoa Chalet. And so we are just finishing up our first year with the Crimson Cocoa Chalet. And I love it.

How fun. And I love the personality to all the names. That’s so good. That’s so good. So, all right. I want to ask you a few things. When you first got started, did you see yourself as a real estate investor, as a host, as a hospitality concierge or something else entirely? What was your viewpoint of yourself at that time?

So when I entered the game, I actually had always envisioned myself like, you know, working as a school counselor and having summers off. And back in the day I was like, well, maybe I’ll rent out like beach houses and I’ll just like meet guests and hand over the keys. I never really thought of myself as like an investor or somebody who would own properties. I always kind of thought of myself as a property manager. Yeah. So when the opportunity knocked to really be able to invest in my own, I was just so ecstatic and couldn’t wait to jump in that. I view this as hospitality, not as an investment. I’m very hands-on. I’m very accommodating to our guests. I’m all about the five-star reviews. It actually pains me when we get anything less than that.

So I’m very hospitality-oriented. And since we have created and worked on so many rental properties, we’ve also expanded our hospitality areas into other areas like Swimply, which is a pool hosting app. So we have a pool in our home in Burlington, Mass. And so we host we’ve hosted over one hundred eighty families in our own backyard just for swimming, hourly swimming pool rentals. We’ve added a hot tub. And then when I had my son in twenty twenty three, I was looking for something to fill my maternity leave because I just can’t sit still. And I fell upon BabyQuip, which is. Baby gear rentals for traveling families. So that’s where I spread my hospitality wings. And we’ve just been doing that.

But a little background to that is my mother was a travel agent. So she was always planning trips. We were always going on vacations. And so I’ve just been infected with that travel bug and I do travel agent on the side too, but since I can’t travel all the time, I like to live vicariously through other people who are staying on my property and being like, well, at least if I can’t travel, at least I can help others travel by either giving them a place to stay. Or a pool to swim in, or baby gear to make their traveling easier. So we’re all about making it easier for other people. And fun.

So I want to ask you about Swimply. I’ve never actually spoken with someone who has… Offered their own pool in their backyard. Tell me about the experience of hosting someone else swimming in your backyard. Do you feel like you have to be home? Do you have to provide towels? What does that look like from an operational standpoint?

So we have started out… When we started we were kind of like oh let’s close the blinds pretend like they’re not there oftentimes we’d be like you know what we made some extra money let’s go out to dinner and so we would just kind of leave them to their own abyss let them enjoy it Although lately, within the last year or two, we’re realizing, you know what, I think we need to be home just to keep the noise levels and the chaos down. So we are shifting gears on that aspect. But Swimply, you can add amenities and you can charge for certain things. So our hot tub is an extra charge. We were offering towels, but it just kind of became a little bit of a… Chaos mess with that. So we do charge like five dollars for five towels.

Just because I’m like, we never know, like they’re very last minute bookings. It’s all weather dependent. So like, you don’t know in advance when you’re getting a reservation. So we, we kind of have it like people can book it at any time. So, you know, we could be laying on the couch or even in the pool and someone’s like, Oh, I’m coming to your pool in sometimes we’re even out and so like when they when they want the towels i’m like oh goodness i don’t have them ready so that’s kind of been like a learning curve of trying to figure out like you know when when people want to book it and how to accommodate those last minute interesting things.

Interesting. Yeah, super interesting. So you know, obviously I’m very intrigued by, you know, the fact that you were a former property manager. Now you work with young kiddos. I’m curious how you have taken those two experiences working from school counseling and being a former property manager. How have you taken those two experiences and injected it into your short-term rental business?

It’s, it’s a lot of like just meeting people where they’re at. You know, you don’t get to choose who rents your property. Some people are picky about who rented and we’re just kind of an open book. Whoever books us books us. But you know, sometimes you get really high maintenance people who are like, you know, we don’t want this and we want this and like, this isn’t working or we can’t figure this out. And so it’s kind of just meeting them where they’re at. And understanding like you know not not everybody wants it the way that i want it so like you know i might like to not put a top sheet on the beds and some people would give me four stars if i forget the top sheet so things like that like just understanding that like everybody’s different everyone has different preferences and there’s no right or wrong to it you know in the hospitality business it’s just like really just meeting people where they’re at and accommodating them you know, as a counselor, you know, I, as a counselor, I work with a lot of behaviors and a lot of big feelings and things like that.

So just trying to like, find that middle ground, that connection with the students and in meeting them where they’re at and trying to like, regulate them and so sometimes you know you might have i i find that a lot of families traveling you know you would think that they’re stress-free but when they’re traveling they’re very stressed out right they’re arguing with their partner they’re yelling at their kids it’s just chaos and so like understanding that like not everybody’s happy on vacation and like, how can you make it easier for them? So that they can actually enjoy it and not be as stressed out. And as a property manager, it was very similar. Like, you know, a lot of complaints about my neighbor next door, he’s smoking, the smoke’s coming in, this is too loud.

Or like someone’s lights on, like just the little things that like, you know, people’s stress levels come out in complaints, you know, like they’re stressed, they’re complaining about something, whether that’s what they’re stressed about or something different. So just understanding that and just trying to problem solve. So, you know, like as a property manager, it was a lot of problem solving, like, okay, well, let’s talk to the neighbor, you know, and when we had a condo, when we had the two condos, it was very similar. Like the people upstairs are too loud. I can hear their foot, like they’re stomping. So, you know, a lot of times they’d, Oh, okay. I’ll, I’ll send them a message and ask them to quiet down and just appeasing them that, you know, like just the host that goes above and beyond for them, you know?

Absolutely. I want to, I want to, use that to kind of segue to the topic of emotional intelligence. I think that this is something that is so intriguing. I don’t hear a lot of people talking about it in our short-term rental space. First of all, how do you define emotional intelligence?

So emotional intelligence, I would define it as… Being aware of others’ feelings and being aware of your own feelings, your own beliefs, your own comfort areas, and understanding that, like, not everybody is the same as you, you know? Like, we’re all different. We all have different feelings. We all have different knowledge about things. And so just coming from a place of, like, understanding your own self helps you understand other people too and just being open to different ideas different experiences and all that.

Yeah, so if someone may be listening or watching and thinking hmm I don’t really feel like I know myself. I don’t really feel like, I mean, probably on the surface, everyone knows themselves, right? How would you say to someone who wants to go deeper into understanding themselves at a deeper level, what steps would you give to them?

That’s a tough one. I would probably say like, you know, start out by putting yourself in the other person’s shoes. So if you’re having a conflict with someone else, really try to understand where they’re coming from. And then, you know, once you can kind of look at it from the outside, then you kind of can look at it from your point of view and say, okay, well, if that’s how they feel and I feel this way, like let’s kind of dive deeper into that. Like, why am I feeling that way? What what bias do I have? What am I holding on to as a bias or a prejudice or like whatnot? And and really kind of like reflect on that, you know, like. Like right now I’m, I’m doing collaborative problem solving training and I’m going to be training my district, all the teachers, all the staff in collaborative problem solving.

And so what that is, is problem solving, but with the student and working through that problem with the student, a lot of adults kind of go into it as, I’m going to solve the problem. Right. But that doesn’t build the skills with the the student. That’s just telling them they have to listen to authority. And what you really want is to build those skills in that student. And so giving that student the opportunity to solve their own problem and work through it with your support builds those skills to be able to do that. And I think a lot of people just say, well, I’m right. You’re wrong. I’m older. I know more about you. I know more about this. And you don’t learn anything, you know, like you’re just stuck in that way.

And so when you have that open mind and that collaborative approach where you can, you know, look at it from someone else’s point of view, And then you can kind of reflect back on, OK, well, this is how I feel and this is what would make me feel good. And this is how that person feels. And that’s what they like. Let’s meet in the middle and work through it. Right. Because I think a lot of people just they butt heads. They can’t communicate. They can’t look at it from other ways. And nothing gets resolved, you know.

And so how would you. Integrate that in the hospitality space. Let’s say you have a guest that’s upset about something and the guest doesn’t give a rat’s hiney about being collaborative, right? They’re thinking they’re right. How would you as a host apply those skills or a level of emotional intelligence to diffuse that situation?

Yeah. So we’re in the hospitality. It’s a customer service industry, right? Like they’re paying us. We’re not paying them. And so, you know, depending on what they’re looking for. I mean, I feel like as a host, you need to be accommodating. Like that’s you’re providing accommodations. You need to accommodate your your guests within reason, of course. And so, you know, the other day I had guests who couldn’t figure out how to use the gas grill. And I tried to troubleshoot and walk them through it. And they said, well, we have charcoal. Do you have a charcoal grill? And I said, I don’t, but I’ll order one from Walmart and it’ll be delivered in two hours. And I solved that problem. You know, like it’s just…

Working with them. Right. And trying to solve it. So I see a lot of hosts in the Airbnb Facebook groups always saying, oh, I see my guests doing this on the camera and I see them doing this and they brought this and like, you know, just nitpicking the guests. And I’m like, guys, we are. Our hosts like we are getting paid for these people to enjoy our space like we don’t get to decide on how they use our space like you know like you’ve got your rules in place and sure that’s great but like give them the privacy yeah you know let them enjoy it and just mind your own business you know But I think in the hospitality business, you really got to meet your guests where they’re at. And with our property, the Crimson Cocoa Chalet and Stay Awhile Rental, we really try to just provide…

Everything that they could possibly need any questions they could possibly have like we just give it everything we can to them in hopes to make their lives easier because if their lives are easier as a host it makes my life easier because I don’t get all these questions like I can’t find this I can’t find that I don’t know like how to use this like. You know, we’ve got not too many signs because I’ve had a cleaner complain. We had too many signs once, but we do have a lot of like information available if they need it. You know, it’s accessible. And I just feel like that should be industry standard. Like we’re providing accommodations. We need to be accommodating to our guests.

All right, I want to pivot a moment. We’ve talked about emotional intelligence. We’ve talked about finding common ground, being collaborative. Can you highlight maybe an example of a situation where you felt like your background and having a high degree of emotional intelligence completely changed the outcome or what could have been a negative outcome?

Hmm. That’s a hard one because I don’t like… It’s probably just intuitive for you.

Yeah. I mean, I, I feel like I am a like natural people pleaser. And so if I sniff a problem coming my way, I’m like all over it, trying to accommodate it. And, and sometimes I’m too accommodating where it ends up like walking all over me.

OK, so I want to ask you a different set of questions because you are clearly doing multiple side hustles while raising a family and working full time. Talk to us about what you have encountered as some of your biggest challenges with having so many things on your plate.

Whew. You know, I am the type that works hard so I can play hard. So, I just push through all of the work so that I can treat myself. And that is in the form of vacations usually. So last year after we finished our renovations in New Hampshire, we were off to Disney and Jamaica and on a cruise. And I burnt myself out with so many vacations. So I’m taking a vacation from vacations. But yeah, juggling all the things, it is so hard. And I think if I didn’t work in a school where I have… Regular vacations I wouldn’t be able to do as much as I can do so I’ve got one more full day of school tomorrow and then a half day next week and I’m like in summer mode and so I can kind of just take a breath and just kind of focus on the our side hustles the school year it’s a challenge when i’m working full-time and and it’s not an easy job it is emotionally draining i am working with five-year-olds who are tantruming all day long the most difficult kids Out of the whole school, I get the pleasure of working with.

So I spend a lot of time on the couch when I come home from work. And on the weekends, I’m like, I’m just going to lay in bed and do my social media posts for all of our side hustles.

Yeah. But we kind of treat it like as a family, we kind of treat all of this as fun. Like we never really want to think of it as work. Like my work as a school counselor is work. Everything else is a side hustle, you know, like being an Airbnb host. I actually like it. In our slow season, I actually like miss it. I’m like, nobody’s leaving me a five-star review. Like I feel like I’m not… You know, feeling good about myself because I don’t have any reviews coming in. So I miss it when it’s slow. And luckily, like the slow season kind of lines up with when I’m when I’m working.

Gotcha. But our BabyQuip business, we do it as a family for the most part. We’ll bring the kids, we’ll stop at Dunkin’ Donuts. We say, oh, we’re going into the city to do an order. My three-year-old, he loves to help me. He says, I want to come in and help. So that’s, you know, fun. And then, you know, when it’s not fun to do it together, we leave them at Papa’s house and we say, we’re going to go spend some adult time doing a BabyQuip order, making some money and enjoying the peace and quiet in the car. Without the kids. So we balance it the best we can. And we make the most of it. And I think if it gets to the point where it becomes stressful, then it’s just not for us anymore. Like we’re very, as, as stressful as our lives are, we’re very like low key stress people.

Like we just kind of take it one day at a time and we don’t let it like bog us down. So just having that like outlook of like, you know, that, and I think like, like i always go back to like when i was in high school and i was like what do i want to do with my life i always said i want to help people i want to help people i want to help people and i always thought helping people was like being a counselor and as i’m like as i’ve like matured into adulthood i’m like you know it’s you can help people in so many other ways than just being a counselor So I help people every day by renting my swimming pool to them. They’re spending quality time as a family. They’re making memories. I hope someday those kids will look back and say, remember that time we rented that random lady’s pool and had a blast?

And so it’s rewarding to me. It’s not work. It’s rewarding. I’m helping families create memories, spend time with each other. And that… Is where it all is.

I totally agree. When I got into short-term rentals, I was looking at it from a real estate investment standpoint. And I very quickly realized, obviously, there are two different aspects to this business. There’s the real estate, and then there’s the operation of a short-term rental or a hospitality business. It doesn’t mean that, you know, you have to have both. There are many folks that have the real estate piece of it and they off, you know, I don’t want to say offload it, but they delegate the day to day operations to a property manager or to a co-host. On the flip side, there are many people that operate the short term rentals that don’t actually own the real estate. And so it can be an interchangeable industry, if you will. What I think is so interesting when I hear you talk and there are so many different layers to your life, I’m going to press you and I’m going to ask you a question. Have you earmarked any time this summer for Daniella? Not your family, not your businesses, for Daniella.

So every, my birthday’s in July and every July I treat myself to a stay at my properties up in the White Mountains. I invite my whole family to come with us and that’s kind of one of the reasons we sold our two condos is cause we outgrew it. So we now have the Crimson Cocoa Chalet, which is much bigger. We can house everybody. That’s my treat to myself every year. I go up for a week and a half. And I just do what I want and I drag the family along. You know, last year I did schedule a lot of like trips for myself. I did a trip with my daughter and my mom, and then I did a trip with my girlfriends. I always try to do a little bit of both. I try to do a girl’s trip, a family trip and whatever else I can squeeze in.

So yeah, i don’t have any girls trips booked this summer yet but i do get a little antsy when i when i’m not working so there is a chance I will likely treat myself at some point but yeah this this is a catch-up year for us because last year we were renovating and vacationing and it was just so much and so this year we’re we’re trying to take it slow but I do I do go big on my trips so

And if that’s what you love, that’s amazing. I think what’s most important is that we have a self-care routine. A self-care routine may look different for different people, and that’s totally fine. I think what so many women especially do is they give, give, give to all these other people without letting themselves recharge, without giving back to themselves, which is why I asked you. So I love that you’ve got that trip planned. I’m going to encourage you to continue to find time for self-care, especially with how busy you are.

Yeah. Yep. And I wasn’t always… I struggled with self-care for, oh God, a long time. I am the type to burn myself out and then just flee the scene. And then when I’m regulated again, I come back. And that’s been a pattern probably since high school. And… You know, once I graduated with my master’s in school counseling, that’s when it really hit me. I did an internship and my supervisor at the time was like, you really need to do more self-care. Like you really need to do more self-care. I was doing my master’s. I was working full-time as a property manager. I had a two-year-old at the time and I was just running myself dry. And She was like, what like what are you interested in? And I’m like, I like I was never a sports person or anyone in high school that had like interest or anything.

I just like existed. And I was like, oh, I’ll go get my nails done. And she was like. You got to like find something you’re passionate about. And that’s right around the time where I invested in Vacay Vibes in D5 and started that journey. And that’s where it really bloomed. I was like, my interest is traveling, you know, it’s trips, it’s, it’s memory making, you know? And I always say there’s two different types of trips. There’s trips that you make memories and like Disney, you know, all that. And then there’s trips where you just relax. Yeah.

Disney is not a relaxed trip.

Oh no. Both of those, you need the relaxing trips and then you need the ones where you make the memories. And, and they’re totally different trips. And so, yeah that’s that’s where i was like you know what i think travel and hospitality and all that is like my passion my interests that’s what i wanted to do it wasn’t counseling so much it wasn’t managing properties it was like providing those spaces for other people and for myself you know like that’s that’s something that that i enjoy and And helps me.

It fills your cup. So I’m very much a Disney fan. Okay. So actually last year for our STR Success Accelerator retreat, we went to Disney world and we studied how Disney does hospitality and looked at ways that we can integrate the same type of hospitality into our own short-term rental businesses. It was so fun. And I think when we did that last fall, that had been my fourth trip to Disney last year. So I don’t usually go four times a year, but I love it.

So now I have to ask, like, what’s your favorite park at Disney and where do you stay?

My favorite park is definitely Magic Kingdom. It’s funny because when I was nineteen years old, I have always been a Disney girl, like just always been a Disney kid. I tried to plan a whole family reunion down there when I was fifteen years old. I had the whole itinerary booked. Everyone backed out last minute. My uncle kind of felt bad and said, how about we just take you at like, fifteen years old, we’ll take you with our family. And I still to this day will never forget it. I loved it. And when I was eighteen, I booked my graduation, my high school graduation trip with my boyfriend at the time. We went to Disney. So him and I went back a few times after that. And when I was nineteen, I bought their timeshare, the Disney Vacation Club.

I said to myself, you know what, if I buy it now, by the time I have kids, it’ll be paid off. I won’t have to pay for hotels. And I honestly think it was a good investment. I’m not one for timeshares, but Disney, I mean, Disney, Disney. So when we go, we actually own the timeshare at the Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge. Okay. We typically stay there in a safari view, but I do love to kind of hotel hop and check out the other ones too.

Yep. Yep. It’s interesting. So we are also DVC members. We own up the Riviera. And, you know, it’s kind of like going home. It sounds so silly, you know, but when I pull up there, I’m like, oh, I’m home again. You know, it’s just a different level of hospitality. Number one, every time I go there, I’m always looking to learn about what they do or take notice of, you know, how they operate. And yet at the same time, You know, I grew up going to Disney myself, right? I love it. My trips growing up were the beach or Disney World, you know? And so that’s what I love as an adult. But I’m often reminded of my childhood when I go there. It’s a truly special place. So even as you’re traveling around, and scheduling these trips with your family and your kiddos, just think about the fact that you are shaping, you know, their futures with travel. And I think that that’s something that’s so special.

Yeah. Yeah. So good. Daniella, I want to just ask you, What has entrepreneurship taught you about yourself? I mean, you are constantly on the go. Obviously, we’ve established through this conversation. However, having a high level of emotional intelligence, I know you know yourself very well. What has entrepreneurship taught you about Daniella?

This one’s a tough one. It’s not a tough one. It’s… If I told my high school self that this is who I would be at the age of thirty-five, would have been like no way i you know growing up i think i was not very confident i had no skills no interests and i just was like one of those people who probably just follows other people around and just you know like lacked that big energy and having all of these side hustles has really like built my confidence so much over the years i’ve i’ve doubted myself so many times and i’m like i you know my my dad’s always telling me don’t do that don’t do that that’s not gonna work that’s a horrible idea and i have actually told myself to just do the opposite that he tells me and just take the risk and find out you know like he’s he’s very much like very, I don’t want to say nervous, but he doesn’t take a lot of risks.

And I think I’ve always kind of been a risk taker as a young child. Like I was always the only one in my family to be riding roller coasters and, you know, doing crazy things that I could and just pushing the envelope and, I’m glad that I’ve taken all the risks that I have because it’s, it’s helped build my confidence and my self-esteem. And you know, the last few years of like buying my first condo, buying my second condo, renovating my basement and now buying this, the Crimson Cocoa Chalet, like I feel so on top of the world. I feel like, all of the decisions that people have doubted I’ve made and have said, don’t do that. That’s no, I would never do that. Don’t do it. I just feel like they all were good decisions.

I don’t ever just jump into anything. I do my research. I, you know, network with other people. I, I really do deep dives on everything that I get myself into. And I trust myself now. Like, I know that like, I’m not like, just somebody who’s taking risks to take risks. Like I’m taking calculated risks. I’m doing the research and that has really turned me into a confident person. And with confidence, I feel like you can do so many things. Like if you’re doubting yourself and if you’re not taking risks, you’re not going anywhere. And, and that was me in high school. Like, I just like, I wanted to go to college and my dad was like, no, like you, you can’t go to college. You can’t like, I’ll, I’ll disown you if you go live away at school.

And I was like, all I want to do is go live away at school. I just want to like, be a free bird. And I, in high school, I took myself to all my college tours. I would write myself a note and give it to the secretary and say, I’m going on a college tour. I drive down by myself. I do the tour. I was the only kid without a parent there. And I just, I took all these risks, you know, and I’m glad that I did because I, they were worth it, you know, and they, and, and, and not even from like an investment or any type of the way, but just like what they did for me personally, like, I just feel so confident and just so sure of myself. And, you know, like, even if I make a bad decision, like it’s not the end of the world, like, you know, we, we pick up and we move on.

But if i just stayed where i was in high school and i just never took the risks and i just married a guy just to have a family like i wouldn’t be here i wouldn’t have built this you know for my whole family to enjoy you know so yeah it really has changed me but just by you know doing my research and taking my risks, you know.

I also think there is a level again of emotional intelligence that you have had to garner by way of having naysayers around you right I also think it’s important just to highlight for anybody listening or watching what Daniella experienced as a child with her parents saying, no, you can’t go to college. You can’t do this. It’s not a good idea. I wrote about this in my book, LIVE BIG, but I think about having plexiglass around me. Okay. And there I’ve definitely experienced naysayers in my life in different forms and fashion over the years. And when that negativity comes my way, I think about it literally as an arrow and it’s just bouncing off of my energy armor, this plexiglass box around me.

So my light, My confidence, my ability to have a positive outlook can shine through that plexiglass, but the negativity never penetrates me. And I think, you know, just listening to you talk, you’ve done that naturally and organically. And that’s a skill that is so difficult for so many. So good on you for taking those risks and giving yourself the opportunities that you have because they really now are shaping your family, your kiddos, right?

Yep. And let me just tell you that raising a strong willed ten year old girl is not easy. And I’m like, man, I I was not like that as a child, but I am like that as a thirty five year old woman. And I it is hard to be the mother of that. But I know deep down that who she is. She is going to make waves in the world because she is just going to go places.

Well, she’s learning from her mama. She’s learning from her mama. Okay. I want to move to the lightning round. Okay. So I’m going to ask you some fun questions. Just answer with the very first thing that comes to mind. First question is, where is your favorite place to vacation?

Definitely Disney.

Do you have a favorite ride?

I like Splash Mountain, but it’s not there anymore. So I don’t have a favorite ride right now.

There you go. That turned into the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Yeah. Yeah. I rode that with a poncho on with some of my Accelerator family members. It was not the most beautiful moment for me, but it’s like, I’m not getting this whole thing all wet.

Have you ridden Tron?

No, I have not. No one will ride it with me.

I will ride it with you next time you go. It’s so fun. All right. What’s one place you’ve never been that you want to visit?

Costa Rica, definitely. Although my partner would say that I’m saying it wrong, but I’m going to say Costa Rica.

Costa Rica, Costa Rica.

Hey, potato, potato. It’s all good. I love that.

Okay. Okay. I’d buy that. Next question. What’s one thing you know now that you wished you knew when you were starting out in the business?

Oh, design is everything. I think so many people just rent a space just to rent it. And I’m like, you like really need to spend the money on a designer to get it like beautiful and picture perfect. Because you will see your money back ten times if it is designed nicely.

And I’m going to add to that, and operated well. So you can have a beautifully designed space when it’s not operated well, not going to go so well. But design plus the operations, I really feel like are super important.

For sure. Okay. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? Um…

Best piece of advice i’ve ever been given i think i probably have to say like giving waiting for people just to get their thoughts out like i think so many people listen to respond And they don’t listen to hear. And so, you know, I do this all day long with five-year-olds. They can’t get their thoughts out. So I can just wait them out all day long. I give them however long they need, if it’s ten minutes, twenty minutes. But I think as adults, we really need to do more of, like, just waiting for people to get their thoughts out without… Interjecting our own thoughts or our own assumptions about what they’re going to say. So just giving people time to, to speak and listening, you know?

Yeah. I think you’re spot on. There are so many times where, and I’ve been guilty of it myself, you know, in a conversation with family or on a topic I’m passionate about, I can’t wait to jump in. And yet, If I if I would just be quiet and continue to listen, sometimes I could not have an argument that ended up being an argument.

Yeah. One of my favorite activities is you just give the person you’re working with two minutes to talk and you just can’t you can’t respond. You can’t make any facial expressions. You just give them two minutes. And then when they’re done, you summarize what they’re saying rather than respond to it. You summarize what they said. And it’s such a powerful exercise because as the speaker and as the listener, like, you know, it’s it’s hard to just sit there and listen without responding because you want to be like, oh, yeah, like, I agree. Yeah. Or oh like really like you want to ask questions but to just have to sit there and listen without responding is so powerful for yourself but then also for the speaker because they’re they’re able to just talk without having to feel like oh is this person judging me or are they like gonna interrupt me and turn it on like turn it around about them so that’s a fun exercise to do.

Yeah. You know, it’s so interesting that you say that because I have learned this about myself. I didn’t know this about myself several years ago. But evidently, I make facial expressions. Okay? So… Again, I’m talking about in a family setting. There have been moments where, again, I’m jumping in to respond instead of just letting my husband or my kids reply back to me or share their feelings. If I’m not doing that, I could be going or making facial expressions that… Will cause them to say we’ll see you know or why Why are you doing that? And I’m like, what do you mean? I didn’t say anything. I don’t even know I’m doing it. So again, I think having awareness about ourselves is so important. I do recognize now at fifty one years old, I do make facial expressions and I have to be very, very focused on keeping my face clean. Stoic not you know not not having any expressions and it’s very opposite of the way that i am as a as a human right so any tips or tricks you have for me to not make facial expressions?

I mean, I think just being aware that you’re doing it you know and then Nobody’s perfect. So just having that awareness and, and just trying to work towards it, you know? But yeah, definitely try to listen to hear rather than listen to respond. You know, I think we’re, we’re wired to try to respond and, and sometimes we don’t need to respond. We just need to listen.

So good. So good. Daniella, what is one thing and or person that you’re grateful for today?

I am grateful for my partner, Patrick. I would not be here if I didn’t have his support. Like I said, I have a lot of naysayers in my family. Circle and no matter the crazy idea that I have, he’s always willing to listen. And although I probably bully him into every decision I ever make, he stands by it and he supports it. And I’m grateful for that because I don’t have a lot of, supporters. So yeah, that’s important.

It’s important for sure. I think if I had a partner who, And I’ve had people before him and I’m like, some of them would not put up with my shenanigans the way that he does. And so I think we’re like the perfect balance of like, he’s my little cheerleader. He helps me do a lot of this. He’s a willing participant. And I think there’s a lot of people who would not be willing participants. And so I’m very grateful that, that we have this great balance and support and I love it.

That’s so great. So great. Daniella, if people want to learn more about you or maybe book a stay at one of your properties, where is the best place for them to find you online?

I am in a lot of different places. So Crimson Cocoa Chalet on Instagram. You can also search the Crimson Cocoa Chalet Vacation Rental on Facebook. I am also on Facebook and Instagram under DM Travel Vibes. That’s my travel agent, my BabyQuip, my Swimply, and any other messes I get myself into can all be found there. I also share some of the vacations I go on, on that page as well. So, but you can also just find me under Daniella Morganelli. I’m always looking for supportive friends to network with and share our ventures with. So yeah, I’m all over the place.

Amazing. Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me.

Did you enjoy the episode? Don’t forget to Subscribe, Rate, Review, Like, and Share!